Islamabad, June 23 (ANI): Pakistan's chief selector Iqbal Qasim has refused to step down from his post despite repeated calls for his removal due to the disastrous performance of the national team in the ICC Champions Trophy.

The former Test spinner has faced calls for his resignation following Pakistan's three straight losses in the eight-nation tournament in England, in which the Pakistani batsmen failed miserably, the Daily Times reports.

However, Qasim has refused to accept sole responsibility for the team's performance, saying that it would be unfair to say that he and his fellow selectors should resign as he believed that responsibility for this poor show lay with everyone, and not just the selectors.

According to Qasim, just as everyone including the board, the selectors and the national team management takes credit if their team performs well, similarly the same people should accept responsibility for the team's failures too.

Stating that his tenure as chief selector had ended in March and he had himself told the board they could appoint someone else, Qasim, however said that he was asked to continue until further notice, adding that the national selection committee in consultation with the team captain and coach had selected the best possible players for the Champions Trophy.

However, the former spinner pointed out that no one had expected the batting to fare so badly, given the amount of experience in players like Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and captain Misbah-ul Haq, adding that except for Misbah, none of the others managed to score runs.

Defending the decision to drop veterans like Shahid Afridi, Younus Khan and Abdul Razzaq for the tournament, Qasim said that Razzaq was not considered as he was not playing any domestic cricket while Afridi and Younus were dropped to give them a chance to reestablish themselves after their recent struggles.

The chief selector also said that the time was right to start building a team for the 2014 Twenty20 World Cup and 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. (ANI)